I’ve felt like I couldn’t find any super cute boyish prints lately. Everything that caught my eye was veering towards girly. I love girly. I’m trying to put ruffles on anything I can right now but my original goal with The Eli Monster was to provide really nice, modern, diapers for boys since I had such a hard time when my own Eli was needing diapers.

After a few kids and trying almost every diapering “system” known to man, I got tired of fiddling with everything day after day, laundry load after laundry load. Inserts, liners, layers, extra inserts, snap down, snap up, pain in my you-know-what.

Poor baby’s diaper is bigger than he is!Photo: E. Voll

I’m busy. I do not enjoy spending the better part of an evening stuffing pockets. I do not enjoy having to stick my hand in a soiled diaper to get the insert out. Because, you know, Murphy’s law dictates that you WILL get poop on your hand. Every. Single. Time. And don’t believe the claims that they will wiggle out in the wash. They never did for me. I ended up with a stinky soggy insert ball in the shell at the end of the cycle each time I tried. So then I had to rewash everything. I was over diapering in general but especially over pockets. ESPECIALLY one size pockets when I had 2 kids in them. They were always snapped too little (or under/over stuffed) for the wrong kid and SOOOOOO bulky on the smaller sizes. So, so bulky.

That’s when I started making (and using) All In Twos (AI2s) as the bulk of my waterproof diapering usage. It’s as simple as putting on an All In One but has the adjustability of pockets since I can add insert boosters as needed for naps or nighttime. No need to unstuff-just throw the whole thing in the wetbag OR (and here’s where it was great for me once Adlai started eating more real food and her poops were more predictable and not every diaper change) unsnap the wet only insert, let the shell air dry for a bit (I liked to rotate about 3 shells during the day) and snap in a new one. My diaper loads were cut in half, instantly!

Easy to wash-since the inserts *can* be removed, you get a more thorough cleaning. Even better, if you don’t remove the insert, everything still gets cleaned since there’s no place for the insert to bunch up.

Less laundry. Since the inserts can be removed, you can reuse the shell a few times before washing as long as baby just wets (toss the whole thing in the wetbag when there’s a dirty-dirty diaper)

Easy to use. Wears just like a pocket or All in One.

NO STUFFING!!!!

NO UNSTUFFING!!!! Just a quick unsnapping, or for dirty diapers, toss the whole thing in the wetbag and forget it.

Choice of materials next to baby’s skin. Most pockets have a microfleece or suedecloth inner layer to help wick moisture through it to the insert but since AI2s don’t need that extra layer, you can have organic bamboo velour or stay-dry suedecloth, depending on your baby’s needs.

Sized shells means that even smaller sizes are nice and trim. You don’t need a whole new wardrobe to accommodate the diaper bulk.

Less cost overall. Since you can reuse the shells, you can buy addition inserts at a lower price than a full diaper.

I heard about this wash ball from one of my online mommy groups. It supposedly will wash up to 500 loads of laundry without any detergent. Hocus Pocus was my first thought. Nothing that costs $10 will wash 500 loads of laundry. I had a 40% coupon for Joann’s and, being desperate for clean smelling clothes, I decided to try it out. It’s supposed to be filled with little ceramic balls that manipulate the water to pull dirt our of the fabric fibers. I admit, I was a bit hesitant because online reviews made claims that the ball was useless and a waste of money and one site even went as far as to claim that it was filled with tiny pellets of dye.

I got it home and soaked it overnight like the directions said, all the while Tony is mocking me and my wash ball. *Insert pouty face here.*

I thought I’d take the plunge and do diapers on my very first wash ball load to really just break the thing in. I did add about a teaspoon of my diaper detergent. Just in case… Almost instantly the water turned murky brown and STUNK! My fears of buying this piece o’ junk returned. It really IS just bits of dye that make you think the thing is pulling out dirt from your clothes. So, of course, I sat there and WATCHED the dern washing machine agitate my diapers in increasingly brown water. I kept telling myself that the soak didn’t turn brown so it can’t be dye, it can’t be dye. The rinse cycle came and went (water clear this time) and I started pulling my diapers out of the washer expecting stinkies. NOPE! Fresh as a spring breeze! And bright too! Some of Adlai’s diapers are handmedowns from Eli and have seen 3 years of diaper warfare (trust me, the kid is not gentle on his clothes) and came out looking almost brand new again. Since buying the wash ball, the wash water has gotten increasingly lighter which means (to me at least) that the ball did its job and is now just maintaining the clean. The same thing happened with towels and our other clothes. The colors seem a bit brighter and the fabrics have a fabric feel to them again. We have extremely hard water and everything was starting to get a funky feel to them.

I love this wash ball so much that I actually pulled it out of the washer mid-load to take a picture for this blog. A diaper load. That shows love, man. And don’t you think the pink coordinates with the Gold Beast (aka our washer and dryer)?

*I guess I should provide info on where to get it… I found mine in the college dorm section of my local Jo Ann’s. They are normally $10 but you can always find a 40% off coupon which brings it down to $6. Not bad for 500 loads of laundry.

In fact, head on over and check out her Cover The Booty series on cloth diapering and giveaway craziness!

Hi! I'm Steph, the person behind The Eli Monster. I love to make great fitting, modern and wearable patterns for your special little one. I love my Dutch bike, Minneapolis, schnitzel and the TV show, Psych.